Electrical igniter for internal-combustion engines.



No. 812,622. PATENTED FEB. 13; 1-906.

w. H. WALTER.

ELECTRICAL I GNITER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24, 1902. RENEWED APR. 16. 1903.

WITNESSES William )2. 716 ZZer UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. WALTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y, ELECTRICAL IGNITER FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 13, 1906.

Application filed March 2 4, 1902. Renewed April 16, 1908. Serial No. 152,982.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WALTER, a citizen of the United states, residing in the city of New Yorkjbo'rough of Manhattan, in the county and State". ofrlew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical IgnitersYOr Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a full,

- clear, and exact description.

s- Myinvention relates to improvements in nals or e ectrodes prevents an electric spark from jumping from one terminal to the other and when the terminal becomes heated'and coated with oil the latter soon carbonizes' into a thick deposit or coating which precludes the passage of the electric current and results in a consequent failure to produce the spark necessary to ignite the explosive gaseous'mixture.

The object of this invention is to rovide an im roved igniter which insures t e passageo an electric s ark or sparks under any and all conditions service and in which the de osit of carbonaceous matter on the termina s (one or both) is overcome.

p In my igniter one of the terminals is made to retain a considerable amount of heat, so

that any oil deposited thereon would imme diately upon coming in contact with this j heated terminal be va orized and entirely :lefinite length 'of time.

more readily pass points of comparatively thin sections, selecting wherever possible that point of a terminal which presents the keenest edge. I have found by experiment that a metallic body of a shape of a double convex lens is most suitable for the purpose in view, because it presents a continuous 01].- cular thin or knife edge as an exit for the electric current and at the same time it is capable of holding enough heat to cause any oil which may rcachit or lodge thereon to bc-' comeimmediatcly vaporized and rendered innocuous as a possible means of coating the I terminal with carbon. A plane-convex shape is more easily rodubed' or' else a purely conical form, an scribed forms may be employed, the latter being referable owing to the decreased cost of pro uction. It will be understood that a core or central body of anyshape may be emtherefore either of the de-' loyed so long as it terminates at some point 1n a circular disk, said disk constituting the passage for the electric current or spark. The eonstructiezflof one terminal is not alone suf ficient-to secure the best results, and I have found that its eflieiency is highly increased by surrounding the disk-shaped terminal by another terminal, the latter assuming the shape of an annular opposing terminal, which is preferably continuous or-unbroken and is arranged to present an edge of thin section in opposing concentric relation to an edge of thln section of the first named terminal. With the twoterminals arranged in opposing relation the chances for the formation of a clean metallic surface in one of the two terminals, producing a spark conse uent upon the bridging of the terminals by t 1e current.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part otthis specification, in WlllGh similar characters of reference indicate correspondin parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a side e evation of an electrical igniter embodying my improvements. I Fig. 2 is a lon itudinal sectional view through the same. Ifig. 3 is an end elevation looking at the inner extremity of the igniter, and Fig. l is a transverse section taken in the plane of the dotted line 4 4 of ,2 and looking toward the terminal formed by or as a part of the bushing.

In order that others skilled in theart maya part of an electrical conductor.

understand the construction and application of my improvement, I have illustrated one embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings; but it will be understood that I do not limit myself to the specific construction of the non-important parts of the igniter, and, furthermore, that I hold myself at liberty to embody the essential or generic features of the invention in other constructions of igniter's well knownin the art.

5 designites the bushing, which is provided with a collar 6 and with a threadedportion 7, the latter forming a convenient means for the secure attachment of the entire igniting device to the working cylinder of an internal-combustion engine. The bushing accom modates an insulated sleeve 8, which may be of any suitable material and constructed in any approved way. Said sleeve 8 extends through the bushing, and the joint between the bushing and the sleeve is madegas-tight by the employment of a non-combustible packing 9, which is compressed tightly around the sleeve by the employment of the gland 10, the latter being screwed into the outer portion of the bushing 5. Theinsulaton sleeve 8 has a central bore or passage through which extends the metallic stem 11, forming The outer end of said stem is externally threaded, as at 12, and arranged to project beyond the sleeve 8. Loosely fitted on this projecting end of the metallic stem is a disk 13, against which .is seated a spring 14, that is adapted to be compressed by the adjustment of a nut 15, the latter being screwed on the threaded part of the stem and serving to engage with the spring. Another nut 16 is screwed on the threaded part of the stem and is adapted to i cooperate with the nut 15 for the purpose of holding an end portion of an electrical conductor forming a part of a sparking circuit in metallic engagement with the metallic conseparated by the bridge-bars 1t). 5

ductor-stem 11. The two nuts 15 16 provide means for the convenient attachment of an electrical conductor to the stem, and the nut i 15 may be adjusted on the stem to compress 1 the spring 14 more 'or less.

According to my invention one terminal of. the electric circuit for the sparking or igniting device is of an annular or ring-like form, and this terminal is formed by a part of the bushing 5 or is attached to said bushing so as to be supported or carried thereby.

This circuit terminal may be 'formed by the edge of a reduced inner portion of the bushing, and this edge may be continuous, as

shown by the drawings, or it may be interrupted or broken. As shown in the specific embodiment of the invention represented by the drawings, this annular or ring-like terminal 17 is an integral part of the bushing 5 and is formed with the slots 18, said slots being The inner terminal portion of the bushing is thus skele- I tonized by removing some of the metal, so as to allow the hot gases or the exploded charge l to circulate freely around and through the i bushing, thus minimizing the area of the bushl ing for the lodging of oil or the deposit of cari bonaeeous substances The other terminal 1 for the sparking circuit constitutes one of the 1 important features o, my improvement, and it is embodied in the form of a disk 20,,the

extremity of the metallic stem 11. This ed to receive the extremity of the stem for the more perfect attachment of the terminal to the stem. The disk-like terminal has a beveled portion 22 on its inactive or neutral sides, and this beveled portion of the disk forms an extremely thin or knife edge 23, the latter being disposed in opposing and concentric relation tothe annular terminal 17.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the disk-like terminal, having thin or knife edge, is supported by the stem, which is insulated by the sleeve 8 from metallic contact with the, bushing, and thetwfo parts 17 20 are disposed in concentricrela tion and spaced laterally, so as to form the incurrent is adapted to bridge or leapin order to form the spark at proper intervals.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to seciu'e by Letters P-atent.

1. In an electrical igniter, the combination of a hollow plug provided near its inner end with openings or slots and with a ring-like terminal, said openings or slots lying inside of the ring-terminal and the latter presenting a beveled disk-like terminal having an active edge of thin section disposed in parallel and opposing relation to the corresponding edge i of the ring-like terminal and forming therewith an intermediate sparking gap of uniform width, said ring-like terminal being presented edgewise to the disk-like terminal.

E 2. An electrical igniten;- comprising a bushing having an annular terminal of thin cross- 1 section joined thereto by intervening ligaments, and a solid circular terminal having an edge of thin section, said annular terminal and the thin edge oi the solid terminal being separated by an intervening sparking gap.

, 3. An electrical igniter having a solid disklike terminal provided with a beveled periphery forming an edge of thin section, and an annular terminal having a thin active edge, both terminals presenting edges of thin sections in opposing and parallel relation, the thin edge of each terminal being continuous and lying in one plane.

4. A non-clogging electrical igniter, comprising a bushing provided with spaced webs or ligaments, and with an annular terminal 1 having anedge of thin section, said terminal same being supported or carried b the inner continuous activeedg'e of thin section, and a g disk 20 is'shown as having a hub 21 adapt termediate sparking gap, across which the,

being separated froni the bushing by slots or assages between said terniinal and said s aces formed by and between the webs or ody portion, a secondterminal situated adhgaments, andasolid terminal ha 'abev-' jacent to the annulartermmal and being e periphery forming an edge of t secspaced away from the same at all times. 15

5 tion, which is resented in a concentric and In testimony whereof I have signed my opposing relation to the corresponging edge name to this specification in the presence of .o

the annular terminal. I two subscribing witnesses. 5. An ignition device of the jump-s ark WILLIAM WALTER. class including. a relatively stationa ody Witnesses: v 1o portion, an annular terminal space apart JNO. Mr BITTER,

' therefrom but connected thereto leaving air- I I H. F. BERNHARD. 

